Northeast Pa. earnings trail nation

The region continues to trail the nation, state and similar Pennsylvania urban areas in income growth.

Per-capita income in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area averaged $39,101 in 2012, up 2.4 percent from the prior year, according to recently released U.S. Department of Labor data.

State per-capita income from 2011 to 2012 expanded by 2.9 percent and average compensation among metro areas nationally grew by 3.3 percent, government statistics show.

Per-capita income represents total earnings of an area divided by the residential population.

The metro area's 2012 increase ranked ninth in the state, and local income remained 10th among Pennsylvania's 14 metro areas.

Most similarly sized Pennsylvania metros, including Allentown, Harrisburg, Lancaster and Reading, all rank higher and had larger income gains in 2012. "This is a little frustrating," said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a regional research and analysis organization. "The recession hurt everybody, but we already had challenges before the recession started."

Some longstanding factors hold back progress on wage gains.

The region has had the state's highest unemployment rate since April 2010. Shifts in the area's job mix trend toward lower-paying work, and a high proportion of senior citizens who receive government benefits depresses the income average.

Some occupational pay levels trail national averages and many people lack the education and skill levels to meet some available job requirements.

"Our poverty levels are up, there's all sorts of people on different kind of assistance than in the past," Ms. Ooms said.

"The numbers in black and white are telling us that we are not heading in the right direction," said Satyajit Ghosh, Ph.D., a University of Scranton economist.

A 10-year span between November 2003 and to November 2013 illustrates the employment shift, state Department of Labor and Industry statistics indicate.

During the decade, the metro area shed 38 percent of its manufacturing jobs. Hospital employment decreased by 27 percent. The insurance and finance field shrunk by 19 percent.

Over the same period, warehousing and transportation work soared by 45 percent. Employment in business services, which ranges from accountants and computer technicians to clerks and call-center staffers, grew by 30 percent. The leisure and hospitality sector - including workers at hotels, restaurants and casinos - advanced by 23 percent.

"The lower-wage jobs are increasing while the higher-wage jobs are decreasing," Ms. Ooms said. "There's so many people willing to be underemployed just to have income and a job."

The shift in employment trends underlines the challenge to create or attract more professional-level employment, Dr. Ghosh said.

"We see an erosion of knowledge-based jobs that provide family-sustaining wages," he said. "We need growth in the knowledge sector and we don't see that."

The region's high proportion of elderly people who rely on government entitlement payments also depresses the wage average.

More than 36 percent of residences in Lackawanna County receive Social Security benefits, along with 37 percent in Luzerne County, Census Bureau data indicate. The state average is 33 percent and the national median is 29 percent.

"We have a very high proportion of people who are reliant on Social Security, so that is one of the contributing factors to why we don't see the wage growth," Dr. Ghosh said.

Even for those who are employed, some jobs pay below the national average.

Ms. Ooms' group conducted a study in 2013 on problems contributing to a gap between the area's average skill levels and job openings.

The report cites federal data indicating local health care workers and technicians earn 16 percent less than the national average of $34.97 an hour. Sales-related work pays 15 percent less than the $18.04 hourly average and office and administrative work compensation falls 10 percent short of the $16.40 median.

"Some major occupations are paid less here than other areas," Ms. Ooms said. "Employers can come in and undercut the workforce."

Many area residents do not have the skills or education to fill better-paying job openings, according to a 2012 report from the Brookings Institution, a progressive research and policy organization in Washington, D.C.

More than one-third of the metro area's available jobs required at least a bachelor's degree and 16 percent of unemployed adults had a diploma, Brookings found. Although 34 percent of the employment openings required at least an associate's degree, 32 percent of jobless adults held that certification. Slightly fewer than one-third of the job openings required a high school education, but 52 percent of the unemployed were high school graduates.

"There's a huge mismatch," Dr. Ghosh said.

"We've got to find alternatives to find more balance for the economy," Ms. Ooms said. "We need more job growth, which is the bottom line."

The region has been losing ground on pay-scale measures for years.

As recently as 2007, the area ranked ninth in state per-capita income, ahead of State College. State College now ranks sixth and Lancaster ranks ninth.

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.